Fibers have been treated heretofore with siloxanes to impart hydrophobic properties thereto. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,588,365 to Dennett describes a method for imparting hydrophobic properties to fibers by treating the fibers with a mixture consisting of from 20 to 70 percent by weight of methylpolysiloxanes and from 80 to 30 percent by weight of organopolysiloxanes containing Si-bonded hydrogen and a catalyst which is capable of splitting off hydrogen from the Si-bonded hydrogen groups.
Catalysts which have been used heretofore with organopolysiloxanes containing Si-bonded hydrogen to coat fibers to impart hydrophobic properties thereto have a tendency to split off hydrogen at temperatures below those normally employed to treat fibers, and cause premature gelling of the organopolysiloxane employed in the hydrophobic treatment. Thus, one of the advantages of this invention is that the catalyst does not cleave the silicon-hydrogen bond at temperatures below those generally employed in treating fibers, thereby avoiding premature gellation of the organopolysiloxanes used to treat fibers to render them hydrophobic.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide fibers having hydrophobic properties. Another object of this invention is to provide a method for treating fibers to impart hydrophobic properties thereto. A further object of this invention is to provide a composition, which is stable at temperatures below those employed to treat fibers, but when applied to fibers will render them hydrophobic.